What We're Eating - A Food & Recipe Blog » lamb

Amanda Had a Little Lamb…

Us — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 00:04:20 +0000

Whose flesh tasted really good

For a special treat we’re eating lamb shanks and great northern beans braised in a mixture of red wine, chicken stock, fire roasted tomatoes, and lots of herbs. The shanks and beans were finished off with our version of a gremolata: finely chopped fresh parsley, lemon zest, and capers.

I spy marrowA: okay, so i rarely make the same thing twice…with a couple of exceptions, but this was totally worth making again. this is one that i actually made over the summer that we didn’t get around to posting and thus i had to make again. i’m kind of glad it worked out that way! moooooore lamb shanks
T: yeeahh it was goooood too. You can make this anytime you want… not exceeding 3 times per week. (gotta look out for our health)
A: what if you gave up the carnitas tacos and cali burritos and i cooked it five times a week?
T: if you cooked it for my lunch and could serve it hot in place of my california burrito then that might work out. otherwise, don’t be foolish. I must eat terrible-for-me food for lunch or I’ll go crazy. I assume I would go crazy, i’ve never tried eating a healthy lunch…. and I don’t want to.
A: you should try eating slim jims and lays for lunch… heart unhealthy and cold! it’s a twofer.
T: and it’s got the salt content of 5 gallons of water from the dead sea. good times. no thanks. I used to like slim jims, too, until this one road trip a few years ago. Bad. So, back to the delicious lamb. Wow, it was tender and delish. So were the beans.
A: hell yeah! i’m kind of a bean-aholic. i’ll admit. but these beans are perhaps my favorite way to eat beans! i do have to admit i’ve never had a real cassoulet before, but my god. beans braised with both lamb and pork fat (i use a ham hock as well) rule! the rosemary, wine, and fire roasted tomatoes add a nice touch too. this really has to be an all around favorite meal of mine. next to a rack of lamb.
T: I gotta ask… what’s a cassoulet?
A: it’s a french dish that takes days to make. it’s beans braised with all kinds of yummy pork and meats. mmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
T: Careful, you’re going to start a stampede. you know, with all the mmmmm sounds. cows. you know.
A: uh… yeah… sure? okay crack head, what do you rate this succulent lamb dish?
T: I give it a 4.74/5. It was extremely tasty. It gets a slight deduction for cheating (being lamb). But seriously, it was awesome. I wish we could eat it everyday. What do you give it?
A: your rating was spot on with mine. i give it a 4.7/5. it rocked. it rocks. it will rock…when i make it again. while i’m sure i would get sick of it eventually i would love to eat it often. it’s good to keep things as a special treat for that exact reason. i would hate to get sick of it.
T: yeah, that’s why people should really consider not getting married. Think about it.
A: do i need to call you a crackhead for a second time toinight?
T: toinight? hahahahha

Recipes in this post:

Rosemary and Garlic Marinated Grilled Lamb Sandwich

Tyler — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 23:18:55 +0000

Not your everyday brownbag

For a sunny sunday afternoon lunch we’re eating sandwiches made with rosemary and garlic marinated grilled leg of lamb, roasted red peppers, grilled onions, micro greens, and herbalicious spicy lime vinaigrette on olive oil and rosemary bread. The sandwiches were served with a side salad of sliced orange and yellow tomatoes and micro greens with a lemon vinaigrette.

T: this sandwich was extremely tasty. You make sandwiches so much better than I ever could. You put so much on them… when I make a sandwich it’s like.. bread, meat. maybe some cheese. Scarf it down. And that’s it. Terrible every time.
A: heheh that’s just because you don’t care enough to make it more. You know what tastes good on a sandwich. it just takes time to marinate and grill meat! you’re too busy doing work to break for making a killer sandwich!
T: Well, you definitely have a gift for it. Although, I will say, I don’t know if pieces of steak-like meat are my favorite for a sandwich. They don’t chew with the same ease as the rest of the sandwich, and I end up pulling out large pieces of meat with my teeth, leaving a bready sandwich behind. That said, this was still a very very tasty sandwich.
A: yeah, that problem would have been solved if i had been using a sharp knife to slice the meat. as it is, my knife is in dire need of professional sharpening. My steal just ain’t cutting it. I do think that the sandwich was yummy. I particularly enjoyed the lamb! i couldn’t help snagging pieces of it while we were photographing. I could still probably eat a couple more slices. Lamb is definitely my weakness.
T: So if you had a sharper knife you would have cut it thinner?
A: yup.
T: how thin would you have gone?
A: probably only half that thickness. i would still want there to be some heartiness to the meat, i would have made it two layers of lamb instead of one, too.
T: That probably would have gotten along much better with my chewing problem.
A: maybe you should just get new teeth. it seems like they might be wearing thin. or maybe you could have your teeth sharpened, rather than me having my knife sharpened.
T: my teeth don’t need no sharpening! They can cut a penny in half.
A: bullshit! if that’s the case, we should record it and put it on youtube for the world to see. surely you’d go viral.
T: I’m trying to stay out of the spotlight.
A: don’t be shy mister T! you don’t want the public’s affection?
T: I’ve had plenty of the public’s affection and I can say it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. So what do you rate the sandwich?
A: Hmmm, i think i’ll have to give the sandwich a 4.1/5. it was good. not the best sandwich ever, but good. But if i were to rate the lamb alone, i would give it a 4.6/5. The lamb rocked my casbah.
T: I give the sandwich a 4.2/5. I thought everything on it was very tasty, but the meat didn’t seem to belong. By itself the meat was tasty, but it wasn’t working for me in sandwich form.
A: oh well! we can’t agree on everything! i thought the meat worked great with the other ingredients in the sandwich, even if it was a touch on the chewy side.
T: I thought it worked great with the other ingredients, too. Flavorwise I can’t say enough about it. I guess I’ve always had issues chewing steak, though. This is really nothing new. Maybe I have inadequate saliva.
A: we live in the land of needless cosmetic surgery. do you think there’s a place we can go to get your salivary glands enhanced?
T: ummm no. Crackhead.

Recipes in this post:

Marinated Lamb Chops and Roasted Veggie Couscous

Us — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 03:59:26 +0000

Marinated lamb chops and roasted veggie couscous

For dinner, we’re eating lamb chops marinated in a mint-tamarind vinegarette. The chops are topped with the mint vinegarette and served with a roasted veggie couscous filled with roasted fresh red peppers, red onions, asparagus, and yellow squash.

T: howdy ho, Mandy.
A: if “howdy ho” weren’t a common phrase, you’d be getting your butt kicked right now.
T: sweet, I’m safe. Is there any of this couscous left over?
A: only enough to feed a small army. (of hungry men)
T: I’m an army of one.
A: heheh they got to you!!! damn them, those sneaky governmental bastards. they’ve brainwashed you with their commercials.
T: Actually they got the phrase “army of one” after they saw me walking down the street one day.
A: uh… yeah… t. i’m totally buying that. you’re such a hoss…
T: thanks. I know. That’s why I installed the full-length mirror next to the computer screen. Watch how my biceps ripple as I type.
A: hehehe god i hope no one reading this actually thinks that’s true. that’s just a scary thought. sooo… now we know what you think of yourself, how about what you think of the meal?
T: I thought it was great. I really haven’t had much in the way of couscous before, but I dug it. And I liked how it had lots of tasty veggies mixed right in. The lamb rocked too. The sauce stuff on top was quite good, and different from anything I remember you making in the past. What all was in that sauce again?
A: it had a bunch of mint and parsley, as well as tamarind paste, serrano chiles, lemon juice, and even a splash of vinegar (and oil of course). It was pretty darn tasty if i do say so myself. Anyone who knows me knows i’m a fool for lamb, so i would have had to really screw up dinner for me not to enjoy it.
T: Those were 2 really solid items (the lamb and the couscous). And by solid I mean good. I want more. More! More!
A: woah… calm down my stallion. there is more couscous, just no more lamb. you’re going to have to fill up on those cute little grain-looking pastas. This meal really tied itself together well because the meat was marinated with the same sauce that was served on it, and the couscous was seasoned with the sauce as well. they all had similar yummy flavors.
T: yet at the same time the lamb tasted quite different from the cous cous. What did you do with the serrano chiles before putting them into the cous cous?
A: actually, i put two serrano chiles into the sauce, but even with two whole chiles (seeds left in) i still couldn’t really taste the heat. i don’t think it was just me. I really think they were some bunk chiles. where da heat wud??? huh chiles? where it wud??
T: Mandy the chiles can’t hear you, sweety. Ok, so what were the peppers in the cous cous?
A: ahhh… those were part of my roasted veggie medley. those were just roasted red peppers, along with the roasted asparagus, yellow squash, and red onions.
T: those roasted peppers really set the salad off for me. Yum-oh.
A: okay. now i can handle you calling me “ho” here and there. and i can even tolerate and ignore the “mandy” you just said, but WTF! i know you did not use that wretched rachael ray catch phrase “yum-o”! uh… i don’t know if i can continue writing this post with you. i’m horrified.
T: hahahaha I knew that would get you all riled up. I think you’re yum-o, mandy!
A: uh… i’m not talking to the man who just said “yum-o, mandy”. so if any readers out there would like to engage me in conversation now, that would be nice.
T: I don’t think any readers are going to take you up on that… uhh. This isn’t live chat here. We’re actually in a text editor.
A: heheh, damn it! you win. i’ll talk to you. but you still riled me up and shattered my world.
T: Hey, I was just thinking. We should change our blog name to “30 minute blog posts.” Watcha think? Yum-o or no-go?
A: my god this is just getting worse and worse. i think we should change the title to “thirty minutes of tyler getting his ass kicked”.
T: wow that would be brutal. It’s a good thing I’m into that sort of thing
A: TMI, baby. (wink wink) okay, can we leave rachael ray out of it long enough to give a rating? whatcha think?
T: I’m giving this one a 4.56/5. It was quite tasty, and quite refreshing and new. The lamb was cooked well, too. I’ve got no complaints. And I will definately be eating more of the couscous later tonight. Like in 5 minutes.
A: I agree, t. this meal was just damn tasty. I gave it a 4.444…4/5 that’s right. a 4.4444/5. why the arbitrary numbers??? because arbitrary makes me happy.
T: ok, enough of this bloggin sillyness. Let’s go eat some couscous!

Kwaherini mabibi na mabwana.

Nothin’ Beats Manda’s Meats